The present invention relates in general to a reconfigurable display/control panel for controlling various electronic accessories, and more specifically to an architecture for reconfigurable displays and an overall network for spontaneously interconnecting the displays with various electronic accessories or devices in a manner which automatically reconfigures menu elements shown on the reconfigurable display to interact with each electronic accessory.
Reconfigurable displays are used in automotive vehicles in order to control a plurality of electronic accessories from a single control panel. Such a system reduces cost, saves space on the vehicle instrument panel, and makes the electronic accessories easier to control. A reconfigurable display includes a generic graphic display surface, such as a dot matrix, and a collection of xe2x80x9csoft keysxe2x80x9d (i.e., programmable buttons). The function of each key is dynamically reconfigured via software to allow access to all the available functions or the accessories, typically using a menu structure. A typical reconfigurable display subsystem may also include a number of xe2x80x9chard keysxe2x80x9d, buttons that provide instant access to frequently used functions (e.g., navigation, climate control, audio players, etc.).
Because of their generic, reusable nature, reconfigurable automotive displays have facilitated an increase in the number of features that are made available to the user. Consumers are demanding ever-greater functionality from their electronic accessories, while product design cycles of the accessories are simultaneously becoming shorter. Thus, it becomes a major challenge for manufacturers to provide new and innovative system architectures while delivering high content, high quality products and features at a reasonable cost.
First generation automotive reconfigurable display systems utilize embedded architectures that build specific feature content into the display design that cannot be altered or augmented after the design is implemented. All supported features must be identified at the time of initial design. While this approach provides high performance and low cost, it lacks flexibility.
Second generation automotive reconfigurable display systems utilize a personal computer (PC) type of architecture, such as the AutoPC platform. Such systems enable incremental feature deployment, wherein new features can be integrated seamlessly with those already present. However, such feature deployment is essentially a static model since installed software applications occupy a percentage of the display resources at all times. Thus, it is distinctly possible that system resources could be inadvertently depleted during installation of a new feature. Furthermore, such customization requires installation skills on the part of the users (not just system developers and integrators), which limits the utility of such customization for a significant percentage of customers. Such systems are not truly xe2x80x9cplug-and-playxe2x80x9d since a manual installation procedure is required.
The present invention has the advantage of providing a reconfigurable display architecture in which a human-machine interface (HMI) is dynamically constructed in response to the electronic accessories which are present in the system.
In one aspect of the invention, an electronic accessory display/control system is provided for a transportation vehicle. A reconfigurable control panel has a visual display for displaying menu items for an electronic accessory and has at least one control actuator. A human-machine interface controller is coupled to the reconfigurable control panel and includes a local archive for storing a plurality of interface specifiers. Each specifier defines interaction between the reconfigurable control panel and a respective electronic accessory for performing operations via the menu items using a predetermined communications protocol. The system includes an expandable interconnection link for coupling compatible electronic accessories with the human-machine interface controller. A wireless transceiver is provided for accessing a remote archive of interface specifiers. The remote archive includes interface specifiers each adapted for a corresponding combination of a particular electronic accessory and a particular reconfigurable control panel. The human-machine interface controller responds to a coupling of an electronic accessory to the expandable interconnection link by checking the local archive for presence of a desired interface specifier corresponding to the electronic accessory and the reconfigurable control panel. If the desired interface specifier is not present in the local archive, then the wireless transceiver is activated to automatically obtain the desired interface specifier from the remote archive.